Ladd Keith

Ladd Keith, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning and a faculty research associate at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona. An urban planner by training, he has over a decade of experience planning for climate change with diverse stakeholders in cities across the U.S. His current research explores heat planning and governance with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Transportation. He served a full term on the City of Tucson’s Planning Commission and chaired the development and adoption of the city’s comprehensive plan. He also founded and serves as chair for the Sustainable Built Environments undergraduate degree program which is offered in person, fully online, and at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima, Peru. He has a Ph.D. in Arid Lands Resource Sciences and an MS in Planning from the University of Arizona.

Selected Interviews and Coverage

• The Atlantic. “America Is Going to Have a ‘Heat Belt.’” August 16, 2022.
• Washington Post, “We built a fake metropolis to show how extreme heat could wreck cities.” August 11, 2022.
• The Christian Science Monitor, “How to cool cities, from heat officers to pavement sunscreen.” August 3, 2022.
• Washington Post, As temperatures rise, this research could help cities stay cool. July 8, 2022.
• Forbes, When Extreme Heat Becomes An Everyday Problem. June 30, 2022.
• ABC News, Hotter-than-normal temperatures are predicted through the summer: How cities must prepare. June 27, 2022.
• America Adapts: The Climate Change Podcast, Planning for Urban Heat Resilience with Dr. Ladd Keith and Dr. Sara Meerow. May 9, 2022.
• The Globe and Mail, Extreme, deadly heat in Canada is going to come back, and worse. Will we be ready?, September 25, 2021.

Journal Article Publications

• Brown, Heidi E., Ladd Keith, Valerie Madera-Garcia*, Anissa Taylor, Nicholas M. Ramirez, and Irene Ogata. (2022). Greening up for mosquitoes: A comparison of green stormwater infrastructure in a semi-arid region. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. 38(2), 109-112. https://doi.org/10.2987/21-7055
• Meerow, Sara and Ladd Keith. (2022). Planning for extreme heat: A national survey of U.S. planners. Journal of the American Planning Association. 88(3), 319-334. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2021.1977682
• Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, David M. Hondula, V. Kelly Turner, and James C. Arnott. (2021). Deploy heat officers, policies and metrics. Nature. 598(7879), 29-31. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02677-2
• Keith, Ladd, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Erika Austhof, Ida Sami, and Mona Arora. (2021). Extreme Heat at Outdoor COVID-19 Vaccination Sites. Journal of Climate Change and Health. 4(2021), 100043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100043
• Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, and Tess Wagner. (2020). Planning for extreme heat: A review. Journal of Extreme Events. 6(3&4), 2050003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S2345737620500037
• Austhof, Erika, Vjollca Berisha, Ben McMahan, Gigi Owen, Ladd Keith, Matthew Roach, and Heidi E. Brown. (2020). Participation and Engagement of Public Health Stakeholders in Climate and Health Adaptation. Atmosphere, 11(3), 265. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11030265

Selected Other Publications

• Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2022). Planning for Urban Heat Resilience. Planning Advisory Services (PAS) Report 600. American Planning Association.
• Keith, Ladd and Andrea K. Gerlak. (2021). There's no place in the US safe from the heat. The Hill. August 20, 2021.
• Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2021). QuickNotes: Urban Heat Resilience. American Planning Association (APA), Planning Advisory Service (PAS).
• Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2021). Cities must plan for heat resilience now. Thomson Reuters Foundation. July 5, 2021.
• Shumake-Guillemot, Joy (Ed.). (2020). Protecting Health from Hot Weather during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN). (Contributing author)
• Meadow, Alison M., Sarah LeRoy, Jeremy Weiss, and Ladd Keith. (2018). Climate profile for the City of Flagstaff, Arizona. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS).